Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Synthetic Philosophy, Liminal Entities And Scripts

If a woman plays flute on a keyboard synthesizer
a modern machine will produce good articulations
and a modulation wheel will make them even better
and it’s tempting to think somebody hearing the playing
might not be able to tell a synthesized performance
from a real woman really blowing into a real flute
but there always will be one big difference no matter
how nuanced and sophisticated the synthesizer:
Sitting at a keyboard even if she’s using both hands
a woman with a synthesized flute can still talk, talk, talk.

“On a synthesizer,” she said, “I can sing a duet
and hear my voice along with the flute voice weave a texture
and both voices of the duet are under my control
and the harmony and counterpoint can be more subtle
than two musicians no matter how practiced could produce
so this mode of making song never existed before
this duet of voice and flute both performed by one singer.”

She was talking philosophy and seducing me but
to my ears the philosophy sounded synthesized and
my ears just heard: This gadget lets me play and talk, talk, talk.